From service quality experience to advocacy in informal paratransit: A higher-order partial least squares structural equation modelling study in Vietnam

Journal of Transport and Supply Chain Management

 
 
Field Value
 
Title From service quality experience to advocacy in informal paratransit: A higher-order partial least squares structural equation modelling study in Vietnam
 
Creator Pham, Tin Q. Nguyen, Ha T.
 
Subject Marketing; Transportation; Consumer Behavior; Service Management; Operations; Urban Studies; Tourism Studies; Information Systems service quality experience; SQE; informal paratransit; higher-order construct; PLS-SEM model; satisfaction; loyalty intention; advocacy; word of mouth
Description Background: In the context of the green transition and the sharing economy, informal paratransit such as shared rides, shared vans and shared minibuses is becoming an important part that is complementary to the formal public transport system in Vietnam. However, the majority of research in Southeast Asia only separately considers some of the service quality aspects and does not approach it from a general perspective about the service quality experience (SQE).Objectives: This study aims at testing the impact of SQE on satisfaction, loyalty intention and advocacy and word of mouth (WOM) of passengers within the context of informal paratransit in Vietnam. Concurrently, it clarifies the intermediate role of satisfaction in this relationship chain.Method: Service quality experience is conceptualised as a reflective–reflective higher-order construct, formed from five components, including the physical servicescape, in-vehicle amenities quality, staff assurance and empathy, price–value fairness and service system trust (SST). The survey data were collected from 333 passengers who used the informal paratransit service for the last 2 months and analysed by the two-stage approach partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).Results: The estimated results show that SQE positively and strongly affects satisfaction. Additionally, it directly influences and has statistical meaning for loyalty intention and positive WOM. Satisfaction holds a crucial intermediate role, converting the influence of SQE to both loyalty intention and positive WOM of passengers.Conclusion: SQE is the central foundation shaping customer behaviour within informal paratransit. The research extends the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) framework and expectation–confirmation theory (ECT) by modelling SQE as a higher-order construct linked with behavioural outcomes.Contribution: The findings suggest that transport providers and regulatory authorities need to invest in all five SQE components and integrate informal paratransit into Vietnam’s sustainable transport development system.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2026-02-24
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Quantitative survey; Two-stage PLS-SEM; Reflective-reflective higher-order construct; SmartPLS 4; Bootstrap resampling
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/jtscm.v20i0.1247
 
Source Journal of Transport and Supply Chain Management; Vol 20 (2026); 13 pages 1995-5235 2310-8789
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://jtscm.co.za/index.php/jtscm/article/view/1247/2138 https://jtscm.co.za/index.php/jtscm/article/view/1247/2139 https://jtscm.co.za/index.php/jtscm/article/view/1247/2140 https://jtscm.co.za/index.php/jtscm/article/view/1247/2142 https://jtscm.co.za/index.php/jtscm/article/view/1247/2141
 
Coverage Vietnam; Southeast Asia; Urban and interprovincial travel corridors September 2024 to September 2025 Adult passengers 18+; N=333; Users of carpooling services; Mixed trip purposes; Experience with 4- to 45-seat vehicles
Rights Copyright (c) 2026 Tin Q. Pham, Ha T. Nguyen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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